COURSE DESCRIPTION

The Early Childhood Development course is aimed to introduce Social Workers to understanding children’s needs from the whole range of physical, social,
emotional, and cognitive skills that children need to thrive. It aims to emphasizes the importance of the first 1000 days of human life and how they shape the
society we live in today, as well as orientate students with theories of Early childhood development and their applications in the field of Social Work. The
course will make you aware of opportunities and risks children face in different stages of their lives, while providing guidelines to develop basic skills on how
you can assist them.

COURSE OBJECTIVES ARE:

1. To introduce and orient students on Early Childhood Development from a holistic approach

2. To promote the acquisition of knowledge and skills for competent social work practice within Early childhood development in different sectors.

3. To introduce and orient students on theory in early childhood development

4. To explore different sectors and agencies that provide different programs on early childhood development both locally and internationally and identify
the roles of social workers.

COURSE CONTENT
Introduction: Early Childhood development cover children from conception to 8 years; To understand early childhood development one can look at the
nurturing care frame work.
According to UNICEF report 2014-2010 it still indicates that millions of children are at risk of not meeting their full potential, in Lesotho this is also the case
where it has been reported that 33% of under five children are stunted.

Look for policies of these sectors and strategic plans: Social Development, Health and Education
Health Nurturing Care refers to conditions created by public policies, programmes and services. These
conditions enable communities and caregivers to ensure children’s good health and nutrition and
protect them from threats. Nurturing care also means giving young children opportunities for
early learning through interactions that are responsive and emotionally supportive (WHO,
2018:2)
(At least one in three children under the age of five years is stunted (33.2 percent according the
Lesotho Demographic Health Survey of 2014). Whilst both chronic and acute malnutrition in
this age group of children has decreased since 2004, stunting remains high and above the WHO
Introduction public health threshold of 29 percent for moderate prevalence. The districts with the largest
number of children under five with acute malnutrition are Maseru, Leribe and Berea.

Equitable Access to quality services. These includes promotive and preventive services,
treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care
Print copy of the brain

Child care and maternal health 1.Pregancy:

Nurturing care starts at pregnancy by end of second trimester (6months) of pregnancy the foetus
can hear. Hence babies can recognise their parent’s voices at birth

2.Development of the brain and the nervous system

A new born baby’s brain contains almost all the neurons it will ever have. By the age of two,
most neuronal connections have been made in response to interactions with the environment,
and especially interactions with care givers WHO

Brain development is an essential part of early childhood development, the process by which
children acquires essential physical, motor, cognitive, social, emotional and language skills.
 These skills allow children to think, solve problems, communicate, express emotions and form
relationships.

3. Sensitive periods
Delivery (Birth)
1st hour after delivery
1ST thousand days
Stimulation: In early childhood development parents and caregivers are the principle architects
of a child’s environment and brain development. The tools they use are the basics of engaged
parenting. They include talking, playing, reading and singing to the child, but most of all loving
the child
4.Immunization: It is important for parents to understand why their children are immunised
and what risks they impose to others if they are not.
Nutrition Child care and maternal Introduction to food security
nutrition Getting enough micro nutrients at the right stages of life makes the difference between mental
impairment and healthy development, poverty, productivity, and even life and death Developing
an attachment relationship with a caregiver from infancy is a normative phenomenon. An initial
distinction between the presence an attachment relationship and the quality of attachment
relationship is important. Around 1 Million children die before they reach the age of 5, 50 000
WOMEN die during or right after birth, 19 million infants are born with impaired mental
capacity, 100 000 infants are born with preventable physical defects.
Importance of mother’s nutrition on child’s Development
Importance of Breast feeding
First foods
Nutritional uptake of under 5 children:
Food insecurity is further characterised by inadequate dietary intake among both children and
adults. According to the DHS 2014 report, only 11 percent of children aged 6 to 59 months
received minimum acceptable diet. Fewer than half of all children 6-23 months (40.5%)
 consume iron rich foods, across all age groups and household settings. Three fifths of children
6-23 months (60.5%) consume foods rich in vitamin A, however the closer to 23 months a child
is the more likely they are to consume vitamin A rich foods.

Education Introduction The MOET, through ECCD unit, is responsible for policy direction, regulation, quality
assurance and supervision on early childhood education. Early childhood education services are
either home-based, day-care centres or attached to primary schools. Although the necessary
policy framework has been developed, the sector still has major challenges: There are structural
weaknesses for enforcing inspection and quality assurance; lack of safe and accessible physical
infrastructure, especially for children with disabilities; limited teaching and learning materials,
limited number of trained teachers with almost no skills at all for children with special needs –
compounded by no access to in-service training, and poor resource allocation – ECD receiving
only 0.3 of the MOET budget in 2017/18mfinancial year. The challenges contribute to low
enrolment rate, at only 33% and poor learning outcomes.

Government of Lesotho ‘s role in ECD;

Receptions class
Free primary education

Formal education
proprietors-government, churches stake holders
Structure, Material, Techers, Curriculum
 Non formal /Informal education
Immediate care giver (From pregnancy)
Community
Surrounding environment

Role of parents and community in play and teaching children:

The goal of parenting challenge is to improve parenting skills of mothers, fathers and other care takers,
Parental and Community
so they can provide adequate and relevant support to their children. This is usually a group discussion
Engagement
where ideas are shared and based practices are implemented.
Skilled motivation and positive disciplining of children
ECCD (Early Childhood Care and Development) centres as part of systematic identification for
Inclusive Education disabilities in children
Access schools and trained care givers and teachers for children with special needs
Introduction to importance of early childhood education towards the achievement of
development goals.
Learning through play
Importance of quality Early Childhood Education (Day care centre and ECCD centres)

How cultural believes influences ECCD

Spirituality Role of Religion in ECCD
Shaping morals of future generation at first years of human life
Social Protection Introduction The Government of Lesotho (GoL) ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
(CRC) in 1992. CRC General Comment 7, implementing child rights in early childhood focuses
on national requirements to ensure young children receive their full rights. CRC has been
domesticated through a number of national frameworks. The most important for this strategy are
the Child Protection and Welfare Act 2011 and the Integrated Early Childhood Care and
Development (IECCD) policy 2013. Through the IECCD policy, GoL places high priority on
 the development, education, health, nutrition, hygiene and protection of young children,
preconception to 5 years of age. In addition, the first IECCD Strategic Plan has been developed
to guide the full implementation of the policy. The policy is premised on the conviction that
through intensifying investments in IECCD services, Lesotho shall benefit from lower costs for
health, nutrition care, welfare, remedial education and child protection services1.

Birth registration of under 5 is low at 47% with corresponding low level of death registration.
There is lack of public awareness on child protection coupled with highly centralized child
protection services, registration centres available only in towns away from rural communities.
National labour legislation puts no obligation on the employer to pay maternity leave in the
private sector.

Risk Factors children face

Social Factors (abusive environment by caregivers)

Economic Factors (Poverty, nutrition)
Environment factors (War, toxic stress)
Biological factor (Teenage pregnancy)

Types of abuse children face

-Emotional
-Physical
-Psychological

Common negative ways of disciplining children

-Isolaton
1
Government of Lesotho, 2013, Integrated Early Childhood Care and Development, Maseru: Lesotho
 -spanking
-Pinching
-Insulting

Correct ways of disciplining children

Communicating with a child to find reason for cause and possible consequences if allowed to
carry on with the activity.

The threats to children’s wellbeing and safety means protection is critical for healthy early
childhood development. But shielding children from the dangers and stresses of the environment
around them is increasingly difficult in a world where there are so many problems. Poverty is a
common problem which brings about risks such as illness, undernutrition, poor sanitation.

Existing Social Protection in Lesotho;

Social security
Social Assistance
Social Care services

Children’s rights
SDG’s
Understanding need for parental capacitation
National Policy on Social
social protection programmes and interventions for children in Lesotho
Development
Programmes and interventions in Lesotho by government and stake holders in ECCD.
Social Protection Strategy
Child Protection Strategy
The Children's Protection and
Welfare Act No. 7 of 2011
Environment
 Introduction on the impact of the environment on, and the need for positive stimulation in,
the development of the child.
Enabling policies
Supportive services
Empowered Communities
Caregiver capabilities

Introduction to the importance of early childhood development and the child care function
in building healthy communities
Introduction In Lesotho, access to improved water facilities sits at 84% of which rural areas lag behind at
WASH- Water Hygiene 77% (DHS 2014). The prevalence of open defecation is at 30% at the national level and 38% in
and Sanitation the rural areas. About 22.8 percent of rural people do not have access to an improved water
source and a majority of them do not treat their drinking water. Nationally, only 11.8 percent of
households use an appropriate water treatment method before drinking (LDHS 2014). Lesotho
has one of the highest rate of open defecation in Southern Africa at 30 per cent. Nationally, only
50.9 per cent of the population has access to improved sanitation with significantly lower per
cent (51.6 per cent) of rural population having improved sanitation access (LDHS, 2014).
Accessibility Impact of access to clean water on ECCD
Distance to water resources
State of water sources: type, protected
Availability How absence or availability of toilets affects ECCD
Hygiene How hygiene cuts across Health, education, nutrition and protection of children
Importance of hand washing
Cleaning of children
Theories of Childhood Development: Knowledge and application
cognitive development Behavioural and social learning Heckman’s Theory, Maslow’s theory of needs
theory , attachment theory
theory

Introduction to roles of Social Workers in the field of Early Childhood Care and Development